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Yeah, after nearly 5 years, 10,000 posts, and 300,000 views, I think it's time to retire Hawkeye's appropriated thread.

For newcomers, this thread is an open discussion of current gaming news, including hardware and software announcements, reviews, sales (NPD), and events (E3, PAX) along with relevant user banter. It will likely be console centric, but not exclusively so.

For the interested, these are the sites I peruse on a daily to weekly basis:

Gamers have been waiting years for Nintendo to finally release its Wii successor, and Game Informer has heard from multiple sources that the company will unveil it at E3 this summer if not sooner.

We have confirmed with multiple sources that this new home system is capable of running games at HD resolutions.

I believe this. Why? A pre-E3 price-drop for the Wii makes more sense when an E3 announcement of a successor is likely to stomach-punch sales.

In fact, Nintendo is already showing publishers the system in an effort to get them interested and allow them plenty of time to start developing titles in anticipation of the system's reported late 2012 launch. This advance support marks a change from when the Wii launched. At that time, several Western publishers were outright surprised by the announcement, and it affected the software support for the platform.

"Nintendo is doing this one right," said an anonymous source. "[It's] not a gimmick like the Wii." What else, beyond graphics, this may imply about the system is unknown. What kind of controls the system will support (we imagine a need for both classic analog configurations and motion controllers) or what level of software and infrastructure Nintendo will provide for online gaming is also unknown. However, it's a positive sign that the system might be more than just an HD Wii.

First, I love that the anonymous source refers to the Wii as a gimmick. Just brutal. Second: Hope.

Edit: Added 4/15

" What's most exciting about the Wii successor however is its all-new controller, which industry sources have indicated is not simply an upgraded Wii Remote, and will even feature a built-in HD screen.

Our sources did not specify whether or not the controller displays will feature any other functionality, such as that of the DS's touch screen, but it's easy to imagine the sort of innovation an extra screen could bring to Wii 2 games.

Real internal storage, and before Hawkeye comes in here to tout his love of memory cards, let it be known I'd be happy with solid state memory as long as it is 16GB or bigger. My buddy is in the process of cleaning out his tiny 512mb storage just so he can download a new Virtual Console game. When I think about the 16+ GBs I've got on my Xbox, it makes the Wii's bundled storage even more of a goddamn joke.

How about sparing the 20 cents it takes to include an ethernet port, just for those people who don't have a wireless router?

How about having it be able to play DVDs, you know, that tech that's 20 years old at this point. While you're at it, make it be able to function as a media center too.

Include an IR port, so it can be controlled with a Harmony remote.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

Assuming they're actually interested in regaining 3rd party support, they need to include a classic type controller, and they need to bite the bullet and go to an advanced storage format (blu-ray). Agreed on the internal storage and ethernet port.

I don't think the media center thing is important, mostly because I don't think this thing will end up being a media hub in most people's homes. The GC generation weened me off relying on them. I'll likely always consider them secondary in that regard and gaming.

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

NeoGAF has a been a great read on this. I's mostly industry types and hardcore gamers, but it includes lovers of all systems, and the overwhleming reaction has been joy at a chance for HD Nintendo.

Here's a link to an HD screengrab of Wind Waker. Apparently the Dolphin emulator does amazing upscaling. Would you want to play this? I would (And I hated that games art style).http://i.imgur.com/ExKI1.jpg

The breakdown: The XBOX continues it's domination of the US market, despite a dearth of must-have titles so far this year. Wii sales have all but fallen off the cliff, down nearly 50% compared to last year. It's lack of software is definitely showing. The PS3, despite Killzone and SOCOM sequels, continues to trudge along.

On the handheld side, the 3DS debuts strongly, pulling 400k in three or four days, narrowly missing out on beating on its older brothers total monthly sales. Interesting aside from NeoGAF:

sony sold 620,000 psps at a price of $249.99 for the month of march when it launched in march 24, 2005.

Analysis: Wii slaes continue to decline in the face of a software drought. Whether that software drought is a result of gearing up for Nintendo's next console release is unknown but sounds logical. Whether the Wii had run its course previous to this is subject to debate, but sales figures indicate it peaked in 2009, I believe, making the move to release a new console in late 2012 quite prudent.

The PS3 woes are more difficult to read. The hardware is a good value, the software and online and solid, yet it continues to lose traction to the 360 juggernaut. My conclusion is kinect's marketing campaign had a two-fold effect. It elevated awareness of the peripheral while reinforcing market awareness of the system. In essence, while Microsoft pushed an expensive peripheral with questionable potential, they also pushed their older hardware with established titles and online network. The solution for Sony, as always, appears the same: cut the price.

E3 seems like the logical venue for such an act, though a new Nintendo hardware announcement would likely dampen enthusiasm. This also feels necessary as the rumored upcoming Wii price cut will only serve to make the PS3 seem more expensive. A return price-cut from MS would be unlikely, though if I were the behemoth I would consider dropping the price of kinect bundles in time for the holiday's to appear competitive to the PS3.

Not mentioned: The Move. It remains to be seen if it's legacy is as also-ran.

One of the largest changes is the ability to hold down the left bumper on the controller and go into a kind of live tactical view. While the button is pressed down, you can see the locations of every weapon on the map—no more guessing about where to go to get the best gun—and you can likewise see everyone on your team. If you place your crosshair over an enemy and click down on the left thumb stick you'll be able to tag that enemy so that everyone on your team can see them, much like you could in Bad Company 2.

There is a new sniper rifle called the Oneshot. It takes a long time to reload, it emits a high-pitched whine that can be heard throughout the level, and it gives away your location due to its yellow targeting laser, but when you hit someone with it and they disappear into a fine mist, you'll begin to see the charm. Ditto the sawed-off shotgun, which requires you to get way too close to an opponent to be useful in most situations, but the payoff is... wet.

The Hammerburst has been given a first-person iron sights mode that makes your shots more precise, although you'll lose most of your peripheral vision so you'll also be more vulnerable. The Digger Launcher shoots a living animal underground, where it tunnels in a straight line before exploding. You'll have to see this thing in action; it's a violent, scary weapon as the "bullet" burrows and kicks dirt in every direction.

Gears of War is one of those niche games that, while overall I have a fairly muted opinion of, offers some unique gameplay that can be a really fun change of pace. While I (thankfully) likely won't get online with this that way I did with 2 (MW3), the idea of these weapons and four player co-op is really, really enticing.

Also, tagging feels like the new "it" thing, much like ADS was a few years ago.

One of the great NPD conspiracy theories around their continued curtailing of information sharing is that one of their customers didn't care for their numbers being publicly known. This is backed up by both months after NPD tightened their rules Sony did not release any hardware numbers. This is now illustrated perfectly by how all hardware numbers except the PS3 are available this month, yet Sony has now released this info to the press:

Skyward Sword. Everyone is wondering whether it'll get the Twilight Princess treatment and get pushed back and dual-released.

I'm *really* jonsing for some Skyward Sword... Graphically, the trailers don't look terribly un-Wii like, so I do hope that they give it the Twilight Princess treatment and release it for both so that I can play it in Dolphin (my Wii emulator). However, if they are going to bother releasing it for the newer platform it would be cool if they revamped the graphics and took advantage of the newer hardware.

Speaking of Zelda, a release date for Ocarina of Time 3D was set just this week.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board is about to embark on one of the silliest ventures this industry has ever seen, as it's planning to automate the rating of videogames. Starting with XBLA, PSN and WiiWare titles, the ESRB is going to let computers decide what ages videogames are suitable for.

Publishers will soon not need to show their game to a human, instead filling out a questionnaire to determine how much sex, violence, swearing, gambling and foul bodily function is in a game. The rating is then decided upon by a program that replicates the "ingrained cultural norms and predilections of the everyday American consumer."

The company's R&amp;D principal graphics engineer, Tiago Sousa, responds to that mindset in a new interview with Digital Foundry, saying that a multiplatform approach in developing Crysis 2 was beneficial to the company's central goal -- which is to make big-budget games, not just budget-hostile benchmarks. "The PC market just does not support that cost of development, but going multi-platform does," Sousa said. "If making a game that is bigger, better, more stable, performs better across a wider range of hardware, provides a continued visual benchmark for PC gaming, and more fun with a huge single-player and multiplayer offering is considered selling out, that seems like a really odd application of the phrase. The decision to go multi-platform has allowed us to bring a better game to everyone, which has been our goal all along."

GoW3 is currently listed with a $20 credit on amazon, too. Choose wisely.

Why not put $5 down at GameStop, play some beta and then throw a reserve on amazon for $20 credit? I think i may do that. I wonder if i could return my reserve $5 after the beta ends (not like it matters, still making $15 with beta access)

Although i was left off the title, put me down for both excited and optimistic for a sequel

Sorry, didn't realize you were a fan.

Originally Posted by Kevin Bogues

Why not put $5 down at GameStop, play some beta and then throw a reserve on amazon for $20 credit? I think i may do that. I wonder if i could return my reserve $5 after the beta ends (not like it matters, still making $15 with beta access)

I think if you're willing to put in that effort, the answeris yes.

Originally Posted by lpkmckenna

Why is no one talking about Portal 2? I've already bought and pre-loaded my copy. Ready to go at a moment's notice.

It was mentioned in the old thread. Let us say no one's level of excitement is matching your tone here.

According a recent presentation by the company, Best Buy plans to add employees and facilities to its retail stores to encourage game sales sometime this fiscal year. The big box store currently sits behind other retailers like GameStop and Walmart in gaming revenue, but hopes to turn that situation around by setting up game-focused employees and sales counters.

The employees will handle trade-ins and preorders, and be expected to sell "exclusive digital add-ons" as customers come in and pick up their games. Best Buy reportedly wants to push a "virtuous cycle," where customers preorder games, buy the DLC at the store, and then use trade-in credits for another preorder as the cycle starts up again.

I'm a little confused as to why they're doing this now. 100 million PS2 sales wasn't enough to convince them that there might be a gaming market worth pursuing, but 85 million Wii sales is?

FortressCraft, a new game on the Xbox 360 which is, to put it kindly, borrowing gameplay elements from indie smash Minecraft, has proven about as popular as you'd expect, given you can't actually get Minecraft on the Xbox 360.

According to FortressCraft's developers, Projector Games, the game's trial was downloaded 84,006, with 58,572 then committing to buy it, both unheralded numbers for the Xbox Live Indie Games Channel.

Over the past few weeks, Portal developer Valve and its more devoted fans have been engaged in an alternate reality game, which was believed to have resulted in people getting to play Portal 2 early. Just hours from its conclusion, it hasn't really worked out that way.

At time of posting, that doesn't seem to be the case. While calculations vary (and the events of this ARG ebb and flow every hour), it seems the game will be released approximately ten hours early.

I was meaning to bring this up yesterday. The entire enterprise seems like a furious waste of time. I began to catch onto this when people kept listing huge numbers in terms of progress and no significant change to the countdowns. Valve definitely played their fans here.

According to what's supposedly a Sony Store employee blog, no more PSPgo shipments are planned and the portable is apparently out of production. Over on the official Japanese Sony Style page, it is not in stock and shipments are TBA.

It's easy to pick on Sony here, but discontinuing the product (if true) is the smart decision. The PSPGo wasn't exactly a legit product – it was more of a test, much like the DS or the Wii. Unlike the DS and the Wii, however, it was a total flop. Thus, no point in continuing to manufacture the thing.

When asked about this, Sony replied, "It is a very exciting time for PlayStation portable devices. Before the end of the year we are launching NGP, our next generation portable device, which we believe will revolutionize portable gaming. In the meantime, the current generation of PSPs continue to be in demand, especially since the introduction of our value for money, Essentials range of games and we will continue to meet that demand."

On the other hand, whoever wrote that deserves a Mortal Kombat style uppercut.

Why not put $5 down at GameStop, play some beta and then throw a reserve on amazon for $20 credit? I think i may do that. I wonder if i could return my reserve $5 after the beta ends (not like it matters, still making $15 with beta access)

Phil Lynch, European product manager at SCEE, noted, "SCEE can confirm that we are officially delaying the release of ICO/Shadow of the Colossus Collection and The Last Guardian from their respective launch timeframes of Spring 2011 and Holiday/Winter 2011."

He explained that details regarding new release dates will be released "at a later date".

"We have not been this uncertain about what's coming next in the games industry since Epic's been around for 20 years," said Epic Games' Mike Capps. "We're at such an inflection point. Will there be physical distribution in 10 years or even five? Will anyone care about the next console generation? What's going on in PC? Can you make money on PC if it's not a connected game? What's going on in mobile? Tons of really scary things.

"If there's anything that's killing us [in the traditional games business] it's dollar apps. How do you sell someone a $60 game that's really worth it? They're used to 99 cents. As I said, it's an uncertain time in the industry. But it's an exciting time for whoever picks the right path and wins."

The game companies have become their own worst nightmare. Gaming has exploded to a larger audience then ever and these guys don't think they can survive. Hint: You're doing it wrong.

Once a year the FTC recruits a group of 13 to 16-year-olds and sets them loose on America's retail establishment, tasked with attempting to buy movie tickets, DVDs, music, and video games rated outside of their age range. The point is to see how well entertainment retailers are doing at enforcing the guidelines they agreed to enforce when they started selling this stuff in the first place.

How'd things pan out? 33 percent of teens were able to purchase an R-rated movie ticket. R-rated and unrated DVDs were secured by 36 and 47 percent of teens respectively. Parental Advisory-labeled music made it into the hands of more than 60 percent of teens, a large number that can likely be attributed to retailers' surprise that someone was actually purchasing a CD.

And video games? A mere 13 percent of teens made it through the checkout process with a game rated Mature by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

All the people out there who only worry about this shit when it applies to video games can now go **** themselves.

But it's more interesting that Activision is asking itself this question. One of the memos, penned by Activision publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, is mostly presented in a question-and-answer format.

"Isn't Call of Duty today just like Guitar Hero was a few years back?" is one of the first questions.

Here's how Hirshberg responded:

"This is a great question and one we have thought about a lot," wrote Hirshberg back in February. "But there are several key differences between the two franchises worth considering. Guitar Hero quickly reached incredible heights, but then began a steady decline. Call of Duty, on the other hand, has steadily grown every single year of its seven-year existence."

Thus, we will be rich forever!

"Activision doesn’t always seem to get the credit it deserves in terms of innovation in my opinion, but there is no short supply of it, even in our narrower slate," he noted, after listing several ways Activision intends to remain competitive, both with and without Call of Duty. "As I said, when you look at this list of projects and the innovations embedded within them, it is a pipeline any company would kill for."

Yes, Activision, the publisher that fought tooth and nail against Infinity Ward when they wanted to make Modern Warfare, doesn't get enough credit for innovation. Semtex, Party Chat integration, etc., that's all Activision, not Infinity Ward or Treyarch.

Anyway, you can read the rest of the piece. There are some valid points, but nothing that makes me think this won't be just a train ride of longer duration with the seem conclusion.

You may wonder why I read kotaku. God knows I do sometimes. It's primarily (and almost copletely) motivated by the presence of this guy, who they stole from MTV games a few years ago.Kotaku, the Gamer’s Guide

The next Xbox and the next PlayStation won't be released until 2014, if Microsoft and Sony have their way, industry sources tell Kotaku.

Both companies are hoping to wait out the current generation, and extending an already elongated console life-cycle despite clear signs that Nintendo will launch its next machine by the end of 2012.

Other sources with access to first-party companies, speaking to Kotaku anonymously because they aren't authorized to be talking about Microsoft and Sony's plans, said that they too are hearing that 2014 is the target date, though some believe 2013 could happen if either company feels pushed.

That falls in line with my expectations, thus far.

That source says that Microsoft doesn't even know what parts will be in the next Xbox. They say the company's board "is wrestling with whether to be profitable on day one," as Nintendo's Wii was presumed to be, or to once again launch a new console at a loss, which is what Sony and Microsoft usually do.

"I think we'll see a game of chicken between Sony and Microsoft," industry analyst Billy Pidgeon of the firm M2 Research told Kotaku. "Sony definitely isn't launching a successor before 2014 and could stand to benefit by having Microsoft launch first as PS3 builds in to North America and builds a strong position in Europe. Microsoft claims there's a lot more room in Xbox 360 for developers to max out, but here PS3 could have a strong advantage."

Can you log onto the PlayStation Network via your PS3 console at the moment? We can't, and we're getting reports plenty of other people can't either.

Attempts to log into the PSN on consoles are being met with the error message 80710A06. While American users began reporting the issue a few hours ago, I've since run into the same problem on my Australian unit and Brian's console in Japan can't connect either.

UPDATE - It seems Sony helpdesk employees have been sent the following email:

Hi,

Due to emergency maintenance all PlayStation®Network and Qriocity services including stores, account management, external auths and CST are currently unavailable since approx 5am GMT this morning.

We don't yet have an estimated time as to when services will be restored but will provide further updates when they are available.

Emergency Maintenance? I thought maintenance was something you planned, and did in advance?

I don't really know what to objectively write here. An anonymous DDOS at this point seems unlikely, but the alternatives seem more unflattering.

While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we’re able to get the service completely back up and running. Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we’ll update you again as soon as we can.

Holy shitballs. That sounds serious. I feel for the PS3ers who may have to deal with this going into a holiday weekend.

Following up with Sony of America for clarification after recent events, we wanted to know if the company was still manufacturing and shipping the handheld. Today we were told: "We are continuing production of PSP Go for North America."

Its main controller, as rumored, will include a touchscreen, two analog sticks and a camera, we've confirmed with our own games industry sources who are familiar with Nintendo's plans for the machine.

That new controller's screen will measure 6.2 inches and the controller will also include eight buttons. It won't necessarily be, however, the controller that every Wii 2 gamer uses. It isn't even being positioned as a replacement for the famous Wii Remote.

The more intriguing option, which we've been hearing in bits and pieces from our sources since last week is that two people playing a Café/Wii 2 game could be using different types of controllers. One could operate the Remote; the other use the more traditional twin-sticks of the screen controller.

While a twin-stick controller doesn't sound like the kind of Nintendo gizmo that would charm talk show hosts the way the Wii Remote did, the capabilities of the the screen controller do have people buzzing. The 6.2-inch screen will receive data wirelessly from the Nintendo console and presents an array of options, from putting the player's inventory or map on the controller screen, to allowing players to combine it with the controller's camera to snap photos that could be imported into a game or even turning it into some sort of glorified viewfinder (we're unclear about whether the camera on the controller points at the player or can be outward-facing; we've heard both — maybe it swivels?).

The screen-in-controller idea isn't new to the games industry or Nintendo. Sega's 1999 gaming console, the Dreamcast, included simple monochromatic screens that were used for things like virtual pets. Nintendo pushed the concept in the early part of the previous decade, developing a handful of games that allowed players to link their Game Boy Advance portables to a GameCube console. That idea was used in a multiplayer Zelda game that allowed four players to share an adventure on a TV but occasionally duck into caves on their GBAs. Some iPhone developers have allowed people to use their iPhones as controllers for games running on iPad and PC. None of those executions compare to the idea of Nintendo pushing a screen controller as a principal innovation in its new console, a push that could transform the concept from an exception to a standard.

I find the 6.2" number hilarious. I think someone just added the decimal place to give the rumor the veneer of legitimacy. The controller described is a cluster****, and aside from the N64 controller, Nintendo doesn't do cluster****s. I will be very surprised if the screen is integrated into the controller is that large and/or for all players.

Talking of Mortal Combat, I seem to have run into a online mortal combat series that Warner Bros. is starting. Looks like it's got a small budget. The only thing making it interesting is that "7 of 9" Jeri Ryan stars in it as Sonia.

"Nintendo Co., Ltd. has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii, which the company has sold 86.01 million units on a consolidated shipment basis between its launch in 2006 and the end of March 2011," the company said in a statement. "We will show a playable model of the new system and announce more specifications at the E3 Expo, which will be held June 7-9, 2011, in Los Angeles."

And with that Nintendo has already won E3. The playable part intrigues me.

Sony finally came forward on the PlayStation Blog and admitted that "An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services." Sony says it turned off PSN and Qriocity services on Wednesday to investigate this "intrusion" further.

So it was a DDOS after all. I wonder if it has anything to do with them downplaying the previous attack, as that wasn't nearly as effective. Anon has denied involvement, however.

Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure," he continues. "Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security."

"We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available."

It sounds like they're deploying a security fix before bringing the network back up, which would explain the prolonged outage. I've heard talk on NeoGAF that there was a security exploit involving spoofing your console being a dev kit. Either way, expect another glorious patch when its all said and done.

Capcom confirmed with Kotaku that Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 and the Final Fight/Magic Sword game pack are unplayable without an online connection. The issue is caused by Capcom's use of a particular form of copy protection for the games which requires an active connection to PSN to play the titles.

South Korea's national assembly will soon vote on a curfew law preventing children under 15 from playing online games from midnight until 6AM. Chosunilbo reports the National Assembly's legislation and judiciary committee voted unanimously to pass the bill this Wednesday. The law would not affect offline and console games.

The government began making moves to enact a video game curfew last year. The program also included tests of a "slowdown" policy that would reduce the internet speed of underage users logged into a policed game for an extended time.

Those new "persistent" EA profiles, that are meant to carry a player's profile and achievements across EA Sports games, don't seem very controversial, right? Just a nice bonus for players.

What if that profile was the harbinger of a subscription service, though? Pastapadre posted what is claimed to be a document from EA Sports outlining a new annual subscription-based offering for multiple sports games on PS3 and Xbox 360, offering DLC discounts, exclusive DLC, and in-game items for Madden, FIFA, NHL, Tiger Woods, and NCAA Football games -- as well as the only game named specifically instead of by series, SSX: Deadly Descents (which isn't even called that anymore).

On top of all that stuff, the document claims that the subscription will offer "full downloadable versions of participating titles before they come out in stores," which we could see people gladly paying for. In addition, players would have the ability "to transfer paid content from your current participating titles to future title versions."

I feel so dumb. Here I thought EA was finally rewarding those who blindly purchase new version every year,but why reward your customers when you can get them to pay another additional fee?

So far none of the features sound particularly rewarding (save DLC, but what DLC is really compelling in their sports games?). I feel like this has gotta cost $40+ a year (After all, they're letting you have free DLC to so many games you're not gonna buy). What would be really awesome is if it eliminated the need to purchase online passes for each game.

Speaking to PCWorld, SCEJ spokesperson Satoshi Fukuoka clarified that a "thorough investigation" was ongoing into what the company has characterized as an "external intrusion" into its system, which prompted the service suspensions. More troubling than any frustration caused by downtime over this past weekend, however, is the continued uncertainty about the extent of the attack. According to Fukuoka, Sony had yet to determine if users' personal information or credit card numbers had been accessed by the apparent hackers. If that's found to be the case, he assured, Sony would promptly inform those potentially affected.

This went from really bad to potentially fatal for the Playstation brand.

I swear, if my credit card information has been acquired by God-knows-who, I don't know how I trust Sony ever again.

This went from really bad to potentially fatal for the Playstation brand.

I swear, if my credit card information has been acquired by God-knows-who, I don't know how I trust Sony ever again.

Yeah, I was waiting for more infor before I posted that. While I think the real-world implications of the credit card info is more serious, I think a network outage exceeding a week or two has far more serious implications to their future image among gamers.

Originally Posted by Jawbone54

It looks like a Western Digital external drive.

Also, I can't find a media input of any kind. Interesting...

I think that's a mini-cd slot at the bottom.

I don't see something so ugly being it. 'Course the retard angle the Wii sits at would have made me say the same thing about it. I suppose there's a slim chance that's a dev kit.